The Alvin Show
Title card from The Alvin Show.
Genre
  • Comedy
  • Musical
  • Sitcom
Created byRoss Bagdasarian Sr.
W. Watts Biggers
Chet Stover
Joe Harris
Based on
Alvin and the Chipmunks
by
  • Ross Bagdasarian Sr.
Written by
Directed by
Voices of
Theme music composer
Composers
Country of originUnited States
No. of seasons2
No. of episodes26 (104 segments)
Production
Executive producerHerbert Klynn
ProducerRoss Bagdasarian Sr.
Running time25:40 per episode (7 minutes for The Chipmunks and Clyde Crashcup each, 3-4 minutes for both musical segments each)
Production companies
Original release
NetworkCBS
ReleaseOctober 4, 1961 (1961-10-04) –
September 12, 1962 (1962-09-12)
Related

The Alvin Show is an American animated television series that aired on CBS in the early 1960s. This was the first series to feature the singing characters Alvin and the Chipmunks. The Alvin Show aired for one season, from October 4, 1961, to September 12, 1962[1] and was originally sponsored by General Foods through its Jell-O gelatin and Post Cereal brands. Although the series was created in color, it was initially telecast in black and white. It was later rebroadcast in color from 1962-65 for Saturday mornings on CBS and again Saturday mornings on NBC in 1979.[2][3]

The series rode the momentum of creator Ross Bagdasarian Sr.'s original hit musical gimmick and developed the singing Chipmunk trio as rambunctious kids–particularly the show's namesake star–whose mischief contrasted to his tall, brainy brother Simon and his chubby, gluttonous brother Theodore, as well as their long-suffering, perpetually put-upon manager-father figure, David Seville.[4] The animation was produced by Herbert Klynn's Format Films. The pilot episode, an early version of the fifth episode "Good Neighbor", was written and produced to sell the show to CBS.[5] The actual show featured a re-worked version, which aired as part of the fifth episode. With producer Fred Calvert (who would later work on The Thief and the Cobbler) calling them in, the opening sequence was animated by Bobe Cannon and assistant animated by Iwao Takamoto.[6]

Each episode consisted of a Chipmunks and Clyde Crashcup segment, both of them seven minutes long. Following each segment was a musical number with Dave and the Chipmunks. Most of the songs came from the first three albums that had already been released by the time the show premiered (Let's All Sing with The Chipmunks, Sing Again with The Chipmunks, and Around the World with The Chipmunks). By the second half, all the songs from the new fifth album, The Chipmunk Songbook, were also featured. In addition to the non-album Alvin for President, three song segments were created that were never officially released on any album or single. They were Clementine, Maria from Madrid, and Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair.

The show was followed in 1983 by another Chipmunks series, Alvin and the Chipmunks which aired on NBC.

Syndication

CBS reran the series on Saturday mornings after the show's prime time run ended in 1962.[7]

In the mid to late 1960s, the individual show segments were culled together and sold as a syndication package under the title Alvin and the Chipmunks. The original episodes began airing under the Alvin and the Chipmunks title on NBC Saturday mornings in 1979 for a short period.[7][8]

Ross Bagdasarian Sr. died of a heart attack on January 16, 1972, seemingly bringing to an end any further Chipmunk productions. Years later, his son, Ross Jr., picked up on a disc jockey's joke and produced the album Chipmunk Punk in 1980.[9] The success of Chipmunk Punk spurred renewed interest in a new animated series by Ruby-Spears, which launched in September 1983 on NBC and was titled Alvin and the Chipmunks, with Ross Jr. taking over for his father as the voices of Alvin, Simon, and Dave Seville. His wife, Janice Karman, voiced Theodore, as well as The Chipettes, who are the Chipmunks' female counterparts.[7] The show ran until 1990, with episodes after 1988 produced by DIC Entertainment. (Eleven episodes were produced by Murakami-Wolf-Swenson in association with DIC; these were strictly for a syndication package that included all of the Ruby-Spears produced by episodes.)

To coincide with the new series, Viacom Enterprises distributed reruns of The Alvin Show to local (mostly independent and future Fox) stations; the rerun package was also carried nationally over superstations WGN and WTBS at various times beginning in September 1983 and ran for mostly a few years on half of the markets. However, some stations continue to run the show at various times as late as 1993. Prior to its superstation runs, The Alvin Show was picked up in a few markets such as Detroit, New York, Cleveland, and in international markets such as in Australia and Brazil among others. The show made its way to Europe in the United Kingdom when the BBC (now BBC One) began broadcasting the program as well.

In 1981, Clyde Crashcup made an appearance during a dream sequence in A Chipmunk Christmas. During recent network airings of the special, the sequence has been cut out, due to network time constraints concerning commercial ad time.

In 1990, The Alvin Show versions of the Chipmunks and Clyde Crashcup reappeared in an episode of The Chipmunks Go To the Movies titled "Back to Alvin’s Future" (a spoof of the 1985 movie, Back to the Future).

A majority of the songs and clips from The Alvin Show were featured in the Alvin and the Chipmunks Sing Along Songs VHS releases that were released in the mid-1990s. The songs, however, were slightly remixed to sound more modern. The only song that kept its original broadcast soundtrack was "Alvin's Orchestra" in the 1993 Sing-Along video Ragtime Cowboy Joe. The Bagdasarian closing logo from the show was also remixed in the 1994 Sing Along video, Working on the Railroad.

Nickelodeon picked up US broadcast rights to The Alvin Show on March 7, 1994, after the last of a few independent stations pulled the show. The prints from the syndicated reruns were digitized and the Nickelodeon logo was added to several spots in the opening theme. The show aired as part of Nickelodeon’s morning lineup for most of the next year.

During this time, as well as for sometime after the full episodes stopped airing, the individual Chipmunk and Clyde Crashcup cartoons and musical segments were inserted into episodes of Weinerville. In 1996, Nickelodeon stopped showing The Alvin Show segments altogether and no television station has aired them since then.

Voice cast

Episodes (1961–1962)

26 episodes each were produced for the Alvin and the Chipmunks and Clyde Crashcup segments, along with 52 musical segments.

# The Chipmunks Musical Segment 1 Clyde Crashcup Musical Segment 2 Original air date
1Stanley the EagleOh GondalieroClyde Crashcup Invents BaseballI Wish I Could Speak FrenchOctober 4, 1961
2Sam Valiant, Private NoseAugust DearClyde Crashcup Invents the BathtubAlvin's OrchestraOctober 11, 1961
3SquaresSwanee RiverClyde Crashcup Invents the WifeThe Magic MountainOctober 18, 1961
4OstrichThe Brave ChipmunksClyde Crashcup Invents the BabyYankee DoodleOctober 25, 1961
5Good NeighborThe Little Dog (Oh Where Oh Where Has My Little Dog Gone)Clyde Crashcup Invents ElectricityOld MacDonald Cha Cha ChaNovember 1, 1961
6FancyJapanese BananaClyde Crashcup Invents MusicWhen Johnny Comes Marching HomeNovember 8, 1961
7Alvin’s Alter EgoThe Pidgin English HulaClyde Crashcup Invents the WestChipmunk FunNovember 15, 1961
8Sam Valiant, Real EstateWorking on the RailroadClyde Crashcup Invents the StoveStuck in ArabiaNovember 22, 1961
9Camping TripGood Morning SongClyde Crashcup Invents JokesI Wish I Had a HorseNovember 29, 1961
10Overworked AlvinWitch DoctorClyde Crashcup Invents FlightThe Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)December 6, 1961
11Dude RanchHome on the RangeClyde Crashcup Invents First AidAlvin for PresidentDecember 13, 1961
12Jungle RhythmLily of LagunaClyde Crashcup Invents EgyptRow, Row, Row Your BoatDecember 20, 1961
13Bentley Van RollsSwing Low, Sweet ChariotClyde Crashcup Invents Self-PreservationComin' Thru the RyeDecember 27, 1961
14Good MannersBicycle Built for TwoClyde Crashcup Invents Physical FitnessRagtime Cowboy JoeJanuary 3, 1962
15Little LeagueBuffalo GalsClyde Crashcup Invents the ChairWhile Strolling in the Park One DayJanuary 10, 1962
16Hillbilly SonSpainClyde Crashcup Invents the BedPop Goes the WeaselJanuary 17, 1962
17Alvin’s CruiseAlvin's HarmonicaClyde Crashcup Invents the TelephoneIf You Love Me (Alouette)January 24, 1962
18Lovesick DaveComing 'Round the MountainClyde Crashcup Invents the Time MachineThe Three Blind-Folded MiceJanuary 31, 1962
19Eagle In LoveSing a Goofy SongClyde Crashcup Invents Do it YourselfTwinkle, Twinkle, Little StarFebruary 7, 1962
20Theodore’s DogClementineClyde Crashcup Invents the ShoeMaria from MadridFebruary 14, 1962
21Haunted HouseWhistle While You WorkClyde Crashcup Invents GlassMy Wild Irish RoseFebruary 21, 1962
22Alvin's StudioJeanie with the Light Brown HairThis is Your Life, Clyde Crashcup!The Band Played OnFebruary 28, 1962
23The WhistlerThe Alvin TwistClyde Crashcup Invents the BoatThe Man on the Flying TrapezeMarch 7, 1962
24Sir AlvinGit Along, Little DogiesClyde Crashcup Invents CrashcuplandDown in the ValleyMarch 14, 1962
25Disc JockeyFuniculì, FuniculàClyde Crashcup Invents BirthdaysPolly Wolly DoodleMarch 21, 1962
26Eagle MusicOn Top of Old SmokyClyde Crashcup Invents Self-DefenseAmerica the BeautifulMarch 28, 1962

General Foods was the show's main sponsor; as such, Dave Seville and The Chipmunks appeared in several humorous half-minute commercials for Jell-O and Post Cereals.

Home media

Other than the two VHS releases from Buena Vista Home Video, both of which featured 11 songs from The Alvin Show, up until recently, the show has never been released on DVD. However, on September 8, 2009, Paramount Home Entertainment released the first episode of the show, along with two "modern" specials. A future "Complete Series" DVD set of the series has not been planned and never will. In 2014, "The Brave Chipmunks" musical sequence was released as a bonus feature on The Chipmunk Adventure Blu-ray and DVD combo pack. In 2015, three complete episodes (#01, #04, and #10) were released together as The Alvin Show on Blu-ray and DVD.[10]

International broadcast

Syndicated stations

See also

Further reading

  • Arnold, Mark (2019). Aaaaalllvvviiinnn!!!: The Story of Ross Bagdasarian, Sr., Liberty Records, Format Films and The Alvin Show. BearManor Media. ISBN 9781629334325.

References

  1. ↑ Perlmutter, David (2018). The Encyclopedia of American Animated Television Shows. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 24. ISBN 978-1538103739.
  2. ↑ Woolery, George W. (1983). Children's Television: The First Thirty-Five Years, 1946-1981. Scarecrow Press. pp. 14–15. ISBN 0-8108-1557-5. Retrieved 14 March 2020.
  3. ↑ Paietta, Ann; Kauppila, Jean (1994). Animals on Screen and Radio: An Annotated Sourcebook. Scarecrow Press. p. 294. ISBN 9780810829398.
  4. ↑ Erickson, Hal (2005). Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. pp. 75–78. ISBN 978-1476665993.
  5. ↑ "Story: Alvin Show Pilot Board". 18 November 2021.
  6. ↑ Takamoto, Iwao (2009). Iwao Takamoto : my life with a thousand characters. University Press of Mississippi. pp. 99–100.
  7. 1 2 3 Gitlin, Martin; Wos, Joseph (2018). A Celebration of Animation: The 100 Greatest Cartoon Characters in Television History. Lyons Press. p. 125. ISBN 9781630762797.
  8. ↑ "Television Programs". The Daily News. Retrieved July 26, 2022.
  9. ↑ Kaplarf, Eliot (1983). "Chipmunks Off The Old Block". Observer-Dispatch. Retrieved July 26, 2022.
  10. ↑ "The Alvin Show DVD news: Update about the Alvin Show | TVShowsOnDVD.com". Archived from the original on 2016-01-30. Retrieved 2016-01-23.
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